The flagship tournament of the 2024 Asian Poker Tour stop in Jeju island, South Korea officially gets underway today, Monday April 29, 2024. With a buy-in of KR₩ 2.5 Million (~USD 1,820), plenty of notables from near and far are expected to join the action at the Landing Casino in Jeju Shinhwa World Resort.
Everything to know about APT Jeju Main Event
Just how big the upcoming 2024 APT Jeju Main Event will be remains to be seen. But the figure will topple the previous stop on the island by a landslide as the marquee tournament on the schedule comes with a massive KR₩ 2 billion (~USD 1.5 million) prize pool guarantee. Figures have skyrocketed across the board ever since the APT lauded in a new era in 2023 and the numbers will likely soar further in the fastest-growing live poker series in Asia.
There are four different live starting days available from April 29 until May 1 with varying level durations and all players start with 40,000 in chips. A total of ten levels are scheduled for each live Day 1 and players can compete in multiple flights. Day 2 (and OnLive ITM qualifers) will carry over the best stack forward and onlive qualifiers advancing with multiple stacks will be awarded a min-cash for the lower stack(s) being removed.
Main Event Schedule
Day 1A: April 29 at 11 a.m. – 60 minute levels
Day 1B: April 30 at 11 a.m. – 45 minute levels
Day 1C: May 1 at 11 a.m. – 30/40 minute levels
Day 1D: May 1 at 6 p.m. – 30/40 minute levels
Day 2: May 2 at 11 a.m. – 60 minute levels
Day 3: May 3 at 11.15 a.m. – play down to the final table|
Final Day: May 4 at 11.15 a.m. – restart with minimum of 30 big blind average
15 Players Already in the Money
The close-knit partnership between the APT and Asia’s leading online poker site Natural8 continues as they ran online flights for the fifth major APT stop in a row. Three flights concluded with a total of 106 entries across them on April 7, 14, and 21. From these, 15 players advanced and will join the action in the money late on Day 2 at 8.30 p.m. local time.
The biggest stack belongs to the sole GGPoker Japan qualifier Kazuyuki “HaiHai79” Tanemura, who advanced with 559,720 in the virtual arena. Bonnada Kankham from Thailand is second with 545,876 followed by Jeffrey Lo (445,419).
Further notables to qualify through Natural8 were Chi Jen Chu “Justin”, Phuong Ngoy Nguyen, 2023 WSOP Europe bracelet winner Wing Po Liu, Yu Chung Chang “Nevan”, Thanisorn Saelor, Kannapong Thanarattrakul, Dicky Tsang and Asa Smith. Many of them are already in Jeju and have been competing in the opening events of the series.
APT Champions and World Pros at the Scene
In addition to the N8 qualifiers, several past APT champions and world renowned pros are already at the venue such as Punnat Punsri, Dicky Tsang, Feng Zhao, Manig Loeser, Bertrand Grospellier “ElkY”, Daniel Smiljkovic, Wei Guo Liang, Joseph Cheong, Danny Tang, and Anson Yan Shing Tsang.
Large Contingents
In the initial days of APT Jeju, significant crowds of players from various countries have already converged. As anticipated, China, Japan, and Hong Kong are leading the pack, accompanied by Taiwan. Impressively, representation from Mongolia and Singapore are also quite substantial.
A Look Back at Previous APT Jeju Stops
The first time the APT visited Jeju island was eleven years ago in March 2013. The series only lasted five days and 15 tournaments were part of the schedule. Tetsuya Tsuchikawa of Japan and Stepen Lai from Hong Kong won two trophies while American-Korean poker pro Ryan Yu topped a field of 166 entries in the $1,100 Main Event, walking away with a top prize of USD 36,100.
A few months later in August 2013, the series only lasted four days and the price tag for the Main Event was significantly higher with a buy-in of $2,700. A prize pool of USD 113,970 was split among the top six finishers and Lifeng Shen earned $35,300 of it, denying none other than old school WSOP Main Event winner Johnny Chan the title. Four out of ten tournaments back then were won by players from Japan, former Asian circuit regular Sam Razavi from the UK also won a trophy as well.
Four years on in March 2017, the APT Jeju stop lasted nine days and included 12 tournaments. Ryan Yu won another tournament and took down the KR₩ 660,000 Head Hunter Bounty in a field of 28 entries with the other three players in the money all hailing from Japan.
The KR₩ 1,650,000 Main Event ran four days and nine players in the 56-entry field finished in the money, of which seven were from Japan – they really like Jeju! Among them was TV star GACKT, who finished in fifth place. Katsuhiro Muto was crowned the winner and earned KR₩ 22,570,000, which equaled USD 20,123 back then.
*Article by Christian Zetzsche
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